With the introduction of the K8 architecture, years ago, AMD found inroads into significantly rising in market-share for CPUs, at the expense of Intel. That growth ceased with Intel's introduction of the competing Core microarchitecture, following which, AMD was pushed into some deep financial trouble. Eventually the company spun-off its manufacturing division to form the Globalfoundries with investment from Advanced Technology Investment Company, recently.

With the introduction of the 45 nm Phenom II series of processors however, sharp growths in demand for AMD have been observed, with Phenom II X3 700 series triple-core, and the Phenom II X4 920 quad-core desktop processors. The surge in demand is caused due to recent price-cuts by the company. Motherboard vendors forecast the overall global market-share for AMD desktop processors to go up by 30 percent in Q2, 2009. With a conservative-estimate of its current market share to be around 20 percent, the growth would send the figure to 26 percent. The company plans to further expand its desktop CPU lineup with the introduction of an entry-level desktop platform before September.

Remember, Core i7 is still priced outside of budgets most people care to spend. It still is very much a Core 2 Duo/Quad (Penryn) versus Phenom II world and Phenom II usually takes it in terms of price/performance. OEMs reflect that price difference in their products and that translates into sales. We also can't forget the economic situation where people are inclined to pinch pennies.

AMD may be miles behind Core i7 in terms of performance but the majority of buyers aren't in the market for $1500+ computers. AMD needs to watch out for Core i5 and the subsequent reductions in prices across Core 2 parts, however.

well I am thinking about building a new rig, honestly the features and price of amd boards is really really tempting, but honestly there is bearly any difference between the phenom 2's and i7's when it comes to gaming, other than far cry 2. Most people are going to go for best bang for their buck, their are always going to be more budget oriented people than super highend market. I guess numbers aren't everything, amd is beating nvidia and intel with price/performance game, which is perfect for consumers. I already have an i7 for my personal build but this one would be for office.

AMD will have a whole new architecture in 2011 so I think Phenom II's and success of radeon hd series has given them a little breathing room.

Intel made a crucial mistake. They allowed AMD to launch Phenom II before launching Core i5.

But Phenom II still has nothing over Core i7. Anyone with the money is advised to buy Core i7.

That being said, it's nice to see AMD getting some competition in, even if it's not on the highest tier.
Hopefully Intel won't be able to produce and ship Core i5 quick enough, and have to drop prices on i7.

Intel made a crucial mistake. They allowed AMD to launch Phenom II before launching Core i5.

But Phenom II still has nothing over Core i7. Anyone with the money is advised to buy Core i7.

That being said, it's nice to see AMD getting some competition in, even if it's not on the highest tier.
Hopefully Intel won't be able to produce and ship Core i5 quick enough, and have to drop prices on i7.

From my experience with i7,PII and C2Q, I would have to say that for bleeding edge without budget constraints, i7 is the undisputed champion. I've never seen such a jump in performance when upgrading a platform before. However, I'd have to say that beyond i7, I would chose PII 100% of the time. Even though benchmarks have shown PII to be on par with C2Q, I found my system ran smoother with my 940 than it ever did with my Q9550.

It is really nice to have AMD back, and I hope they continue to improve and increase market share.

Intel is still way ahead of AMD in technology , but AMD gaining market share is good for everyone - the closer the battle gets, the bigger the guns that both teams will pull out to try and grab another 1% from each other, and that only translates to good news for the consumer no matter what you buy.

Core 2 series are outdated, wont come new cpu's to the platform, soo, that leaves AM2 and AM3 a good platform.

Many users with AM2 boards from 2005 2006, can actually snatch up on theese cpu's and put them in, yeah AM3 ones too, so you can use AM3 cpu's on Nforce 3 chipset

Core7 is faster, but for what price. its faster at numbercrunching and encode stuff. gaming too, but not by much.

Use the money on a GTX295 or 4870x2. or just a normal gfx, or a 2nd one. like i did

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outdated? I wouldnt say as much when clock for clock e6750 beats a pII superpi score...what is that...1.5 years apart?
Still, the PII prices are amazing, not only tempting, but a good deal for anyone, primarily gamers, when that extra $120 you didnt spend on core architecture goes towards bumping you up from a HD4830 to an HD4890. Lets see....which would perform better on games? i7 + 4830 or pII + 4890?
I own core architecture, /notafanboy.

From my experience with i7,PII and C2Q, I would have to say that for bleeding edge without budget constraints, i7 is the undisputed champion. I've never seen such a jump in performance when upgrading a platform before. However, I'd have to say that beyond i7, I would chose PII 100% of the time. Even though benchmarks have shown PII to be on par with C2Q, I found my system ran smoother with my 940 than it ever did with my Q9550.

It is really nice to have AMD back, and I hope they continue to improve and increase market share.

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Well, the fanboys seem to like your honesty.

But, what kind of a person interested in performance leaps would buy a 940 when he already has a Q9550? The performance leap that made wind in the past two years was the transition from 2 cores to 4 cores, and even 8 threads. I really don't trust your definition of smooth, no offense, of course.

But, what kind of a person interested in performance leaps would buy a 940 when he already has a Q9550? The performance leap that made wind in the past two years was the transition from 2 cores to 4 cores, and even 8 threads. I really don't trust your definition of smooth, no offense, of course.

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At the time, he wasn't interested in performance leaps, as an enthusiast, he decided to test another platform.
Sometimes I have to remind people that this is TechPowerUp! and that if you keep your hardware past 3-5 months, you are a DULLARD! YES! I SAID IT!

i hope me upgrading to an x3 720be was the right choice because intel core i5 is just around the corner

amd is a good choice i mean okay phenom 1 was balls but that x2 5000+ BE i had was actually okay if only it had more cache

that is the saving grace of the core 2s i mean large cache and fast speeds, the fsb was holding it back tho

the x3 720be is already £99 combine that with a £100 motherboard that is a cheap upgrade for some people, also amd could make a killing in the OEM sector of the market coz these are great for offices that would benefit with having an ATI IGP instead of intels crap, and the low cost but im saying like they do AM2+ they get some cheap 2gb of ram and a 80gb hard drive, a dvd drive is like £10 now for a basic thing, you combine that with a quad or dual or tri core and a cheap under £50 mATX with IGP and that is a good office pc

i hope me upgrading to an x3 720be was the right choice because intel core i5 is just around the corner

amd is a good choice i mean okay phenom 1 was balls but that x2 5000+ BE i had was actually okay if only it had more cache

that is the saving grace of the core 2s i mean large cache and fast speeds, the fsb was holding it back tho

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i think you made the right choice otherwise you would just end up waiting for that new great product thats "just around the corner" the 720BE is a great cpu. i tried it compared it[to the q9550 that is..] and well..it rocks you should be happy no worried XD

With the current state of the economy, the lower priced AMD processors are MUCH more inviting... even if they offer less performance in some areas. Heck, if I am encoding a movie I really do not care if it takes 15 minutes or 30 minutes... I usually walk off and do other things or set up a bunch of conversions to run over night.